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The daughter of educators Eva, at an early age was resolute on marching to her own beat. At 12 years old the Hartford native volunteered for Presidential Candidate Al Gore’s campaign. Using her public speaking experience as the youngest plaintiff for the landmark school desegregation case Sheff v. O'Neill, where the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled; "the state had an affirmative obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to every student”. Eva remembers underfunded classrooms and her bilingual program being cut all while losing friends to gang and drug violence that plagued Hartford during the years of her youth. The court case framed what would become her career in Organizing & Activism. 

 

The polyglot Boricua used her time away from Hartford to help in humanitarian efforts in Brazil, participate a student strike in Puerto Rico and conducted legislative research for Congressman Rangel’s office in Capitol Hill. After a couple years working in politics Eva found a home for her activism with SEIU “Service Employees International Union”. 2023 was her fourteenth year as an SEIU organizer and seventeenth year in advocacy, most recently serving as the CSEA SEIU Local 2001 Childcare & Organizing Director where she fought for affordable childcare, wider access to healthcare and improving the lives of working people. 

 

The former Newtown Councilwoman was awarded Latina of the year by LPRAC of the Connecticut State Legislature for her role as an Assister in Connecticut Access Health Exchange, where she enrolled of over 15,000 people on the Affordable Care Act. She’s also served as the first Latina Secretary for the State Democratic Party. She lives with her wife in New Milford, CT.